Nights Like This

Chapter 57

Metty and Alexei walked down the beach under the mild winter sun. Sand shifted under their feet. The ebb tide had reached its zenith, and waves rose and crashed, foaming, flowing in as the Atlantic Ocean nuzzled the shore. The sun sailed higher in the blue sky. A few gulls cried plaintively, 'nnnooooh, nooohhh, ooonohhh, as they searched for any edible morsel.

Contentment washed over Metty like the waves washing the shore. She looked at the sky, the sea, the waves, the sand. Alexei walked beside her, carrying a cooler bag with sandwiches and fruit, his camera around his neck.

I love him. I love him. I love him. I didn't believe love would be, could be, this easy. If this love lasts for a day or forever or five years, I love him now anyway. She hugged herself. If it's all our tomorrows. She thought of Alexei and herself, old and gray, watching their grandchildren playing on a beach at Almurias. She giggled. It seemed real. It was ridiculous. Take it one day at a time, girl. His feelings for you may not be the same as your feelings for him.

He glanced at her, curious. "What's so funny? Me?" He crossed his eyes at her.

"I love you."

He stopped walking and uncrossed his eyes. He smiled slightly. "Loving me is funny? I am happy if you are happy." He touched her cheek.

She shook her head. "Loving you is easy, like one of those gulls floating on the wind. The wind makes all the effort, and the gull just, just spreads its wings and flies. So easy. It's funny I thought I wouldn't fall in love with you. Yet I am. In love with you."

Alexei smiled at her. "I care for you more than for any other woman I've known." He looked intently into her eyes. "Your love is dear to me."

"I'm happy. For as long as it lasts." She smiled at him.

Alexei gazed at her for a minute before nodding. He looked up. A man with a camera around his neck was walking down the beach. Alexei waved to him.

"Sir?" The man stopped. "Would you take our picture, please."

The man nodded. Alexei turned on his camera and handed it to the man, who examined it. He nodded again.

"Sure. Glad to, buddy. You and your lady." He said, "Why don't you stand against the waves?"

He took several pictures of Metty and Alexei near the water. They posed side by side, hugging, looking at each other, walking in the shallow waves. Alexei leaned against her, draping his arm over her shoulder. She put her arm around his waist, raising her other hand to touch his. They settled together as naturally as one of the gulls rested on the wind. That last picture became Metty's favorite picture ever of Alexei and her.

The man handed the camera back to Alexei, waved and continued on his way. Metty and Alexei walked to the pier.

Folly Beach Pier was closed for repairs, but they spread a towel nearby and settled down. The wind was stronger there, and Metty's hair blew around her face. She pushed it back.

"I should have brought a headband," she said. "Or a scarf."

They sat quietly, comfortable being with each other in the mild January sun. Waves beat against the shore. Gulls, sharp black eyes alert for any opportunity for a meal, flew overhead, crying 'nnnooooh'.

Metty and Alexei ate bacon sandwiches and grapes. A morose gull, grimy and gray, watched them eat and swallow every bite. "Look at that sharp old gull." She laughed. "It's waiting for us to drop something it can grab and eat before another gull gets it."

"He doesn't miss a thing, does he?" Alexei tossed a crust to the bird. With one swift move of its crooked beak, the gull snatched it out of the air and swallowed it. It resumed waiting patiently for another morsel, watching them intently with black eyes.

Metty tossed another crust, which the gull snatched like the first.

"Will it eat a grape?" Alexei asked.

"I don't think so," Metty said. "They're survivors. Eat most anything. But I think not fruit." She tossed it a piece of bacon. The gull gobbled this treat. Its intense black stare seemed to grow brighter.

"Shall we walk on?" Alexei asked. "Or would you like to go back to the house?"

"Let's walk a little further. The weather's lovely today. I don't get to the beach very often."

They walked past the hotel to the County Park at the end of the island. More seagulls sailed overhead or stood on the sand, waiting and alert. Metty tossed a crust high in the air. A gull sailed off the sand and snatched it out of the air. Alexei tossed another crust. The gull swooped over to grab it. Another gull, spotting food, flew in for this bonanza, and Alexei and Metty threw the last crusts to them.

Alexei checked the lunch bag. "All crusts gone. Do you want to get a snack or sit before going home?"

"Let's sit somewhere," Metty said. "Today has been so...perfect. Then we can walk home. Maybe tomorrow we can walk to the other end of the island."

"Yes, to the lighthouse. And another perfect day."